“My heart held up again! It is not an easy period for the team, the President, for everyone. We had a troubled summer and an iffy autumn,” he said after a 3-1 win over Anderlecht.

Mexes provided the highlight of the evening with a stunning overhead kick from outside the box that resembled ZlatanIbrahimovic’s strike against England.

“Ibrahimovic scored that goal in a friendly, but this one was official and we hope it’ll go round the world just like Ibra’s did.

“If Leo Messi had scored that, every news channel around the world would show it and he’d have been made a saint tonight!

“I want to reassure fans that he has a bit of a knee problem, but nothing serious.”

Galliani is a notoriously tense presence in the stands and admits he didn’t see three of the evening’s four goals in Brussels.

“I didn’t see the opening goal and it’s the first time it has happened. I was talking to the cycling legend Eddy Merckx, there was a queue of people and I couldn’t get back to my seat in time. I didn’t see Pato’s goal either, as I was already hiding in the locker room. Basically I didn’t see anything!

“To be honest, I didn’t see the Anderlecht goal, as whenever they put a dangerous cross in, I turn away and get my son to give me commentary!”

The first half was a terrible performance and the Rossoneri did not have a single shot on goal, but Galliani would not criticiseAllegri in public.

“We are in the knockouts and that is the important thing. How are we playing? I am the general manager and therefore I say we are playing very well. In private I might say things differently!

“I am ideologically against the idea of changing a Coach mid-season. I defended Allegri the way I did every other tactician. It has to be a catastrophe of truly Biblical proportions for us to do that, because the replacement is hardly ever going to do a better job.”